Saturday, June 5, 2010
The long long drive...1703 miles in four days
The motorhome and sue will be at the ranch for the month of June. Steve will go back to spend time with his mom and dad in Arizona, and return to the ranch on June 21. Our grandson Joshua (16)will accompany us back to Washington. The final leg of the Adventure will be our trip to HOME with an anticipated arrival in early July. It will be the first time we will live in our house in over two years.
Early next week we will both contribute our last comments on the trip. We hope that you have enjoyed this adventure as much as we have.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Branson, MO
We returned home that evening and began planning our weekend. On Friday Sue got hit with a minor case of flu. It slowed her down and we stayed close to home. On Saturday
On Sunday Steve went to Church at the College of the Ozarks. It is an amazing four year College that is better know as "Hard Work U". The college was established by
On Sunday night we went to the Oak Ridge Boys show which was a combination of news songs, gospel music, songs recognizing and honoring our men and women in the arm forces, and Elvira, the signature song. Interesting enough, the four guys have been together since the 60's and two joined the group in the 70's. They are not the "original" Oak Ridge Boys as the group began in the 1940's (when Frank was just a Kid) as entertainment for the workers sequestered in Tennessee while working on the Manhattan Project.
Monday we went up to the site of "The Shepard of the Hills" which became famous after the writing of the book of the same name, and the movie starring John Wayne. We took a tour of the grounds, went up in a tower that overlook much of the valley, and bought tickets for the outdoor theater show tonight. Sue energy level is picking up so the ten mile hike tomorrow may still be on. (NOT).
We leave in the morning headed west towards California. We are certain that adventure is awaiting us as we travel.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Sues Contribution to the Blog
Hi, this is Sue doing the blog tonight. We are at a rest stop somewhere north of St Louis. Steve is sitting here with his eyes glazed over. We are stopped at a rest stop somewhere north of St. Louis. We had quite a day driving. We left Milwaukee this morning. A man who worked on the motor home yesterday suggested a “non freeway/ non toll way” to Branson and printed us mapquest directions. What I shouldn’t have done was turn on Hillary (our infamous GPS) and also be looking at the map. Well the three didn’t coincide. We traveled for about 2 ½ hour over pretty, but very country roads, detours, etc. Finally we reached the freeway we would have gone on. We turned south, but we happened to look at the northbound sign and it said “Milwaukee—37 miles”!!!! Oh well, the drive was pretty. We headed south and ended up in Springfield, Illinois (that’s the capitol isn’t it?) about 5 PM and in an impressive thunder storm! However we are settle
d for the night and have about 4 hours to go until we reach Branson tomorrow. We have tickets to see a new musical, “Noah, the Musical” and to see the Oak Ridge Boys. We
ll I better go see if Steve is still alive. I’m sure you’ll be glad to hear from him tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Milwaukee
Our trip from the Falls (Niagara) to Milwaukee was basically uneventful other than the toll booths.They charge by the axle in most cases. I felt sorry for our plight until I saw the truck carrying 8 new cars on it's trailer. That had to be expensive! (Just joking). We are settled down at the State Fair Grounds outside of Milwaukee. It is a large parking lot with full hookups and very level parking spots. We have been here three days, and will leave tomorrow.
We drove back to northern Illinois to visit Steve's Cousin who he had not seen for 40 years. She lives in a cute cottage on one of many little lakes in Lake County. The address was a little challenging as there are many streets around many lakes with the same names. O
Yesterday we had a great time with Sue's cousin in Milwaukee. We started the day with a great cup of coffee from a shop next to the Lake that had been a big pump house at the turn of the century. We then visited the Dead Scroll Exhibit at the Milwaukee Museum. It is not the touring exhibit that is traveling throughout the US. but a private collection of a number of different people and institutions. It was extremely interesting covering the discovery, the initial buying and selling of the artifacts, and the continued history of the Bible throughout history. The exhibit started with the question "What is the Bible" and featured a Gideon Bible Display.
After the Exh
We ended our day with a wonderful dinner and evening with our friends. It was a great day, and hard to say goodbye to our family and friends.
We are head south to Branson, and then west. We anxiously await the continuation of this wonderful adventure.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Cape Cod to Niagara Falls and THE FALLS
By the time we finished the discussion in Boston, it was noon. Steve (me) set the GPS to avoid toll roads and major highways and the result was driving through downtown suburbs of Boston. The streets in places were extremely narrow, and some of the turns with our car behind us very challenging. We survived with no damage except frayed nerves. I think there were a lot of people wondering what we were doing driving down residential streets with the coach and car, and so where we. As we traveled out of the suburbs, and into the country the roads were two lane and very pretty. We wandered for miles through wooded hills, very small villages, farm areas, rivers, streams and school buses dropping off kids every three blocks. We arrived in Easthampton where our overnight stop was scheduled. It appeared that we were slated to go through downtown. We had been successful earlier in the day so we headed into town. About a block before going onto main street we noticed a bridge ahead with 10' clearance. Since the coach is 12'6" it didn't look like a good idea. We turned into a neighborhood and tr aveled parallel to main street looking for a way back to the main street finding that every road had a railroad overpass 10 feet or less. After some exploring, we back tracked and found a freeway entrance and headed east several miles until we were beyond the town. The GPS guided us to the campsite, and no bridges!! We reprogrammed the GPS allowing toll ways, and freeways for future travels when necessary. Other than that, the trip was uneventful.
We left early Wedn
We traveled up to the campground on Grand Island, about 7 miles from the Falls. We are about a week ahead of the busy season, so the campground was relatively empty. We settled in and than took a quick trip to the falls for some reconnaissance. Most of the "features" were closed for the day, so we hike d a little, and saw the falls from above, and return
And a full day it was!!
We arrived at the Falls around 10am, as our plan
To say that the falls were spectacular is like comparing the Grand Canyon to a draining ditch. Never have I experience the raw power of water cascading over the ledge. While it is not as high as Snoqualmie Falls, the shear volume is awesome. We walked on the trail at the base of the American Falls, took the boat next to Horse Shoe Falls (Canadian), and found tons of picture perfect views.
We walked across the bridge to Canada around 4pm to view the Falls from the Cana
At 9ish, Canadian time huge spot lights from the Canadian side lit up the three falls. I
We saw just about everything, and are now headed for Milwaukee to see a couple of cousins. It is great visiting with family, some of which we haven't seen for years. Another drive, another tollway, but a great adventure awaits us.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Scargo Lake and Tower, Cape Cod National Seashore, Provincetown, MA
Today was exercise day with a Lobster incentive. We started off with a short jaunt to the Scargo Tower above the Scargo Lake. I have included the legend to go with the pictures. It sounds a little fishy, but it adds to the ambiance.
"Once, the beautiful Princess Scargo, lived along the Dennis shores. She was part of the Bobuset tribe, lead by her father Sagem. One day, a brave young runner from a faraway tribe happened to espy the Princess. At once, the two fell madly in love.
To show his devotion, the brave gave the Princess a beautifully carved pumpkin, which he had hollowed out and filled with water. Four small silvery fish were inside. He promised to return to the Princess before the fish had fully grown.
The Princess adored her gift. She hollowed out a small pond in a clearing and returned every day. As the fish grew, the time apart from her beloved diminished. My Princess ->
The summer was long and dry, though. One morning, when she arrived at the pond, she found it dry. Three of the fish were dead. As she wept uncontrollably, her tears kept the one remaining fish alive.
Her grief greatly distressed her father. Sagem called a meeting at which it was decided a lake was needed for Princesses' fish. The strongest and most skilled brave was instructed to shoot an arrow. When it fell, the spot was marked. The brave shot 3 more arrows to mark the remaining boundaries for the lake. Then, squaws, using clam shells as shovels, dug a hole within the boundaries, which was then filled by fall rains.
The fish thrived in the lake and Princess Scargo resumed her wait for her lover. As promised, he returned before the fish had matured, and they were married soon after. They continued to live along the shore of Scargo Lake, where the descendants of the silvery fish-a token of love-still swim."
We walked the thirty some steps to the top of the tower and had a great view. Getting our exercise for the day, we felt much better and headed north towards Provincetown (at the tip of Cape Cod.We found a secondary highway and traveled through a number of small towns. Our next stop was at
We continued up the coast arriving at Provincetown at 1pm. In town there was a huge Pilgrim memorial tower. The pilgrims on the Mayflower first landed at Provincetown BEFORE t
In 1910 the community built a memorial and a tower to commemorate the first landing of the pilgrims in Provincetown. The tower is 252 feet high, and has 116 steps and 60 ram
We finished our trip with a stop at a live lobster and fish market picking up one last lo
Monday, May 17, 2010
Nantucket, MA
The hour boat ride was very relaxing and beautiful. The ferry was a catamaran and quickly got us to the island. It is a walkable quaint town so we opted for the self guided 4 mile walk of which we completed about 3 miles before we found a short cut back to down town. Many of the streets are cobblestone, nearly all the homes are
Main Street had a mixture of art galleries, jewelers, seafood restaurants, and tourist shops. We treated our self to seafood that hadn't been frozen. Buildings and homes dated back into the 1700's, there were large churches, and parks. Many homes reflected the nautical background of the town and had "widow walks" on the roof. A tradition was to name the house with a placard above the door way. My favorite was "
It was a great day and other then the aching legs, we had a wonderful time. Tomorrow we pick up the car, and get ready for our westward journey starting on Tuesda
Friday, May 14, 2010
Blog Post 50 and Counting....Washington DC to Cape Cod
We are in Cape Cod. Our trip started out rather interesting when we received a call from our son an Monday morning to discuss some last minute plans for our stay in Cape Cod/Boston. After some discussion he said that they has some last minute preparations for the flight on Tuesday, and had the Baseball tickets for Wednesday afternoons Baseball Game at Fenway Park. It suddenly dawned on me that we had not looked at our calendar close and thought we still had one more full day in DC before the two day trip to the Cape. Kevin thought I was kidding, and then realized I wasn't. We ended our conversation, and in one hour we were on the road towards Boston.
We spent our first night at a Walmart RV Parking Lot on Monday night. We were joined by three other RV's, including a fifth wheel, and several trucks. The parking was free until someone wandered into the store. It is amazing what a few "groceries" end up costing. It was a quiet area and next to a Mc Donalds. We drove most of Tuesday arriving at Cape Cod at the Rv Park. The drive was beautiful, and the first hills we had seen since New Mexico. The coach is still handling well and we hardly feel the car being towed behind us.
We settled in the ELS Camp Ground which is a combination RV Park and summer cottage park. The majority of the people staying arrive after Memorial Day so the park is not very full. They have a nice pool, but no water in it yet. It is a lot colder here than south.
On Wednesday we met up with our son, his girl friend, and our grandson in Boston for a mid day baseball game at Fenway Park. It is a grand old ball park with lots of character a
Our first trip into Boston reminded me why we moved out of the City. It took us over
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People in Boston like their horns! Cabbies use there horns more often than their brakes. I am thinking about opening a business called quik lube and horn replacement. I know that they must need the horns fixed at least every 1000 miles or so. I just shrug, I am a tourist.
On Thursday we had Denali and found a cute 18 hour mini golf course. Grandma, Grandpa, and Denali played a round of golf before venturing to Boston for our second day to go with the gang to the
Today (Friday) we went to the Boston Science Center in downtown Boston with the gang. We finished the three floors by 3:30, and then headed back to the RV Park at peak rush hour. We are apparently are not quick learners.
We returned home, gas up the car, ran through the car wash, lost a tire air valve stem in the process, changed the
We are off to another adventure tomorrow, with several more days in the New England before we start traveling west.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Last Day in DC
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Parking is free in DC Metro Lots, and at the National Cathedral so we thought we would go out and experience driving into the Capital. We used our trip planner to get to the Cathedral Parking area, and then to a closer METRO lot to get to the Capitol Mall. The trip to church was easy and the extra time we had given ourselves was not needed, arriving almost an hour early. We walk around the building and through the gift shop.
The service was great. The Cathedral is "a church for national purposes called to embody God’s love and to welcome people of all faiths and perspectives. A unique blend of the spiritual and the civic, this Episcopal Cathedral is a voice for generous-spirited Christianity and a catalyst for reconciliation and interfaith dialogue to promote respect and understanding. We invite all people to share in our commitment to create a more hopeful and just world." The morning message was presented by a retired Baptist Minister. It was an interesting blend of the formality of the Episcopal lethargy and the enthusiasm of a southern baptist minister.
After the service we drove down a metro station and parked. We walked through the Sculpture park, and then completed the visit to the American History Museum. Our final adventure was to the museum of Natural Science. While we only completed two floors. We spent a fair amount of time in the gems and mineral displays including the Hope Diamond display. Sue comment to me that she liked the polished gems best. I'm a little concerned about which on
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We returned home for mothers day dinner (a whopper cheese burger and fries) and watched a movie. Steve is so romantic.
Remember the Fountain of Youth Drink. Don't do it, it has some side effects after time.
Today we get ready to leave DC and head for Boston. Another adventured awaits.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Smithsonian Museum Part 1
Today was a more somber day. We visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum and spent about four hours viewing the exhibits and multimedia presentations. It was a time to reflect for both of us. Steve's first job after he and Sue where married was at a print shop where half of the company (including his boss) were Jewish refugees from Poland. His boss was in Warsaw when it was locked down, and he managed to escape. His entire family died in the prison camp. We spent hours talking about the impact of the war. He had returned home to visit his family and was not on the registry. The last few years that Steve taught at the college a class on the Holocaust was presented in the spring. The instructor was able to bring in survivors from the camps who spoke to the students. Steve attended most of the lectures. The stories were incredible.
We then wondered over to the Smithsonian "Castle" to plan our attempt to see the museum. We probably will not beat the record of our daughter who saw the entire museum in 45 minutes when she was 18. We decided to start in the Museum of American History. There a three floors of exhibits. We finished 2 of them in 4 hours. We will return. The top floor shared
The last exhibit was on the inauguration dresses of the first ladies. I found a bench.
We have become Bus/Subway experts. We are taking the car into DC today because parking is free. We will g
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Washington DC - Days 1 and 2
After the white knuckle experience of driving down Pennsylvania Avenue, everything was a breeze! We parked the coach and the car in a beautiful Campground in College Park, Maryland and have now become two day experts at the bus/subway system. A metro bus picks us up at the campground and takes us to the subway station about 15 minutes away. We hop on the subway and can take it to any one of 10 or 15 stops at various places in DC. We have been on four of the 5 lines (red, blue,green and orange and have not ended up lost, or going the wrong way. I suspect that by the time we leave we will be more skillful than lucky.
On Wednesday we went to the Metro Station in downtown DC. There we followed our practice of picking a C
Our big adventures included the National Cathedral on the a hill above Capital
We then went to Arlington Cemetery to see the eternal flame at Kennedy's grave site, the small grave sight of Robert Kennedy, The Robert E. Lee homestead. Itwas transferred to the United States along with his estate that became Arlington Cemetery during the Civil War prohibiting him to reclaim his property after the war.
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We finished our day observing the ceremony at the tomb of the unknown solider and than walked back through the cemetery to call it a day.
Thursday we returned to DC to get a personal tour of the Capital Building courtesy of our Congressman, and friend Rick Larsen. We were greeted by a young staffer who spent 2 hours with us in the
We jumped back on the bus to see where else we wanted to go and decided HOME. Tomorrow either we will head back to see some of the Smithsonian Museum or Sue will take a break and Steve will go back for a self-misguided photographic tour walking from The Capital to Arlington Cemetery.
You will see.